The processing of meat, poultry, fish and other food products has included the portioning of the food products to desired sizes, weights, shapes, etc., as well as the locating and removal of undesirable material or components or defects (collectively or individually “materials”) from the food products, such as bones, cartilage, fat, metal, glass, plastic, etc. In the past, these processes have been carried out by hand, which was a labor-intensive endeavor. More recently, systems and methods have been developed to portion food products with the use of automated portioning machines. Attempts also have been made to automate the locating and removal of undesirable materials from food products. Early systems have included the use of optical scanners, sonar scanners, and mechanical devices, such as needles, for detecting the location of undesirable materials in the food product. Once located, bones or other undesirable materials/defects may be excised from the food product using, for example, high-pressure waterjet cutters.
Subsequent developments have included the use of an X-ray scanner to locate the undesirable materials, especially in the interior of the food product. The information from the X-ray scanner is used to control the cutting path of the cutting device(s) whether one or more knives, waterjet cutters, or other type of cutters. The food product typically is carried on a conveyor past an X-ray scanner. The information from the scanner is analyzed to determine the location of the undesirable material in the food product. This information is used to control the operation of a downstream cutter(s).
Successful X-ray scanning requires that the food product be conveyed on a conveyor belt that is permeable to X-rays, such as conveyor belts composed of rubber and/or plastic. However, such conveyor belts are not suitable for conveying the food product during the cutting/excising process using a waterjet cutter(s). Rather, for waterjet cutting, a robust metallic belt of a grid or “open” construction is needed to withstand the impact of the high-pressure waterjet as well as allow the waterjet to pass downwardly through the belt, for example, after cutting through the workpiece. As such, the food product is transferred from the initial rubber or plastic belt associated with the X-ray scanner to a metallic grid-type belt for cutting. During this transfer process, the food product may shift relative to the belt, as well as distort or change shape, due to various causes such as a difference in the speeds of the belts, misalignment of the belts, difference in “grip” of the belts on the food products, etc. As a consequence, the location of the food product on the conveyor, and/or the configuration of the food product detected by the X-ray scanner, may not coincide with the food product that reaches the downstream waterjet or other cutter(s) being used. This can result in inaccuracies in the cutting and/or portioning of the food product.
In an effort to address the foregoing situation, systems have been developed which utilize an X-ray scanner associated with the first flat X-ray permeable belt and a second optical scanner located over the metallic, open grid belt. A tracking mechanism is used for tracking the position of the food items at all times while on the initial X-ray belt and also on the metallic open grid cutting belt. The tracking position data is said to be used to determine an estimated position of the food item on the second open grid belt so that the system can confirm that the optically scanned food product is the same food product as was previously scanned by the X-ray system. The computer processor maps the X-ray image data regarding the location of the bones, cartilage, fat, etc., onto the second image data generated by the vision system.
The present disclosure is directed at improved systems and methods for locating and removing undesirable material from food products utilizing an X-ray scanner positioned over a first X-ray permeable belt and a second optical scanner positioned over a downstream metallic, open grid-type belt. The improved systems and methods can also be used to portion the food products into desired sizes, shapes, weights, etc.